THE REBOOT

Just Cavalli's new creative director DANIELE LOMBARDO has a radical idea - maybe, instead of solely existing as the younger clothing line of Roberto Cavalli, establish its own brand identity...

- REILLY SULLIVAN

One morning about nine months ago, Daniele Lombardo, the heavily tatted, newly installed creative director of Just Cavalli, announced to his team that he wanted to change the perception of the brand from the ground up. Like many diffusion labels, which offer a designer name at a democratic price point, Just Cavalli has struggled in recent years as new technology and globalisation shifted the way consumers see luxury brands. Far from pity, Lombardo sees this shift as a golden opportunity for a great reset.

“People are waiting for Just Cavalli,” he tells MAXIM on a recent video call. Instead of being a ‘secondary line’, Lombardo, 44, revealed far greater plans: a pivot of sorts towards cutting-edge streetwear and an identity separate from Roberto Cavalli. “We are not the afterthought of Roberto Cavalli. We are currently repositioning to be in the competitive high-end streetwear, this is going to be our new challenge.”

The outspoken designer hails from Calabria, a region rich in fashion history as the birthplace of Gianni Versace. Mr. Lombardo says that he was more preoccupied with football than clothes while growing up. “I knew Versace had come from Calabria, but fashion wasn’t something so mainstream. It was a lucky thing. I never was thinking to become a designer and it was not in my future coming from a small village in southern Italy.”